May 2025 MNA Meeting Minutes

Montavilla Neighborhood Association

May Meeting Minutes

May 12th, 2025

Present Board Members:

Laura Mulligan, President

Kristina Perry, Vice President

Steph Cleary, Secretary

Scott Simpson

Elisabeth Litster

Sarah Hartzel, Treasurer

Laura called the meeting to order at 6:36

April Notes

 -Laura moved to approve April minutes

-Scott seconded

 -Diana Shawl asked where the minutes were, Steph offered to send them to her personally, but she declined

-Scott mentioned that the Transportation committee is still looking for a new chair

I.              Treasurer Report:

Google and Squarespace charges are coming up soon, is Squarespace changing fee structure?

Steph will contact Sarah about Rakuten, etc. and get money back on the hosting

II.            Communications Committee:

Colleen resigned, so we need a new committee chair for the SE Uplift Committee

III.          Parks and Gardens

Louise was not present to give an update

IV.         Land Use and Transportation

Scott will get committee meetings going with Jacob Loeb, who wants to be part of the Land Use Transportation, historically been meeting quarterly. Scott hopes to create a document to help this hand-off.

V.           Community Action Committee

Elisabeth spoke to this committee that was formed for the new shelter site. This meets once a month and is made up of Dan, Elisabeth, and people who work at the shelter as well as JOHS and City of Portland employees. This meeting is held on Google Meets. The shelter is now full. Residents are engaged in keeping the site swept and clean. With the GNA, “engagement zones” were established.

In the first month of operation, there were 5 removals in the engagement zone (campers who were removed). All of them were between Burnside and Stark on 80th and 81st close to or on Ash St. In addition, there were 18 risk assessments along Ash St. and 82nd. Pastor Heather has seen continuous camping at MUMC who were moved by Impact Reduction. The campers then moved into the parking lot, and Impact Reduction said they couldn’t do anything about the parking lot, which made it a police matter. This makes it a bulky operation.

The average response time for the assessment response city-wide is 2.4 business days.

Spencer said that according to the GNA it’s 24 hours response time to post a campsite for removal. He also suggested that if Impact Reduction is going to move a campsite, they could possibly request that a police officer is present?

There have been many calls but there have only been 5 removals. There is consensus that when people are “removed” they just move a block away, and then return once the city is gone. There is no actual removal happening.

There is a standard of half a mile—so if there is a removal they need to move half a mile. The mayor has proposed additional funding for derelict vehicle removal.

There are concerns about the removal process and posting/ inspecting process. The standard for us is that they come out faster and post it sooner. By state law they have to post if for 72 hours.

If there are campers, put JOHS and City Employees on an email and tell them that per the GNA they need to respond to this site and uphold their end of the GNA.

If there are issues with PDX Saints love we can reach out to Mayor Wilson, but also we can reach out to PDX Saints Love and ask if there is a representative who could attend the MNA Meetings.

The proposal was always to put in a shelter would help alleviate a strain, and it’s important they follow through with that promise and it’s not making it worse.

There is a neighbor concerned about the trees being cut down on SE Mill Street as a Safe Walk area for schools. Spencer offered to email the city on her behalf.

Multnomah Village was operated by Sunstone Way (formerly DoGood), and the County backed out of funding for past sites of temporary shelters, so the City had to go through a procurement process to find a vendor. The City handed the contract to Urban Alchemy for Multnomah Village. The site on 82nd and Mill are county operated sites so the city isn’t involved until it’s enforcement of an exclusion zone.

VI.         Unfinished Business

Steph shared information about the upcoming town hall meeting.

Kristina shared information about Vestal as a potential meeting space.

Kristina asked if the MNA would be interested in hosting fundraising at the Montavilla Street Fair again this year and get local businesses to donate. Will we get a booth with METBA again?

Laura will follow up with Jacob about the booth.

VII.       City Hall Update

On the 21st is a meeting where all the budget proposals will be voted on. It will then go to tax advisory from the state, then comes back to council for voting. The mayor continued funding for community centers for the rest of the fiscal year. Councilors could propose to prioritize park maintenance over community centers (things like watering grass, litter pick up, tree maintenance, etc.). Councilor Novak is going to cut his own budget so that some money will come back to parks maintenance.

Laura moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:32, seconded by Steph